JBU Men & Women’s Basketball Victorious

Siloam Springs, Ark. (November 9, 2004) - The John Brown men and women’s basketball teams were victorious Tuesday night in Siloam Springs against Lyon College. The women came away with a 74-50 victory, while the men won with an impressive 96-67 score.

This was the season opener for the pre-season nationally ranked Golden Eagle women. After a slow offensive start for both teams, the women went into half-time with a 37-24 lead. Against a full court press for most of the second half, the Eagles were able to double their score and hold their opponent to 26 points. Lyon stopped the clock and attempted to catch up by fouling in the second half, but JBU’s impressive free throw shooting crushed their strategy. JBU made 17 of their 21 free throw attempts in the second for an impressive 81% shooting from the stripe. Leading in scoring for the women was junior Kendra McCormick with 14. Junior Alicia Baer and sophomore Ashley Wettengel were close behind with 11 each. Prescilla Mathias led the scoring for Lyon with 10.

In men’s action, JBU’s three point shooting gave them an impressive lead that Lyon could not overcome. As a team, the Eagle’s shot 54% from behind the arc, with junior Brandon Cole leading the way with six three’s and a total of 25 points. Senior Reyjavick De Gracia added 17 points and contributed 12 rebounds. JBU had a 59% field goal percentage for the game. The leading scorer for Lyon was Cortney Brown with 14 points.

The men and women will both be participating in tournaments this weekend. The women will be playing at the College of the Ozarks Classic against Iowa Wesleyan and Tabor Friday and Saturday. The men will be playing in the Belhaven Classic Friday and Saturday, playing Belhaven College Friday night.